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    Mystery Publishers

    • Academy Chicago Publishers
      An imprint of the Chicago Review Press. Features a number of interesting authors, most long out of print, plus some other odds and ends, including some horror stories by Conan Doyle.
    • Crippen & Landru
      Crippen & Landru publish mystery short story collections. Of particular interest is what they call "Lost Classics," a series of anthologies of mostly uncollected stories by authors who might be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.
    • Dean Street Press
      This small British publisher has a great many classic crime books in its much broader catalog. They are bringing back many Golden Age classics by authors who deserve another chance at a new audience.
    • Felony & Mayhem
      This publisher specializes in classic mysteries, broadly defined, including newer mysteries that adhere to classic standards. They have just overhauled their website to make it much more informative and user-friendly.
    • Locked Room International
      A small press, specializing in very good English-language translations of (so far) mostly-French authors of locked room and impossible crime stories. They publish in Print-On-Demand and electronic editions.
    • Merion Press
      The Merion Press is an independent publisher of out-of-print works that were originally published over 75 years ago, but are enduring even today.
    • MysteriousPress.com
      The brainchild of editor/anthologist/author/bookstore-owner Otto Penzler, the Mysterious Press has recently returned to life and now works with Open Road Media as an electronic book publisher. It is already republishing the work of a lot of classic authors, with more books on the way.
    • Oconee Spirit Press
      A small, independent publisher committed to publishing "lively fiction, and provocative non-fiction." Most of their list covers early works by established authors writing traditional mysteries, such as Carolyn Hart and Margaret Maron.
    • Oleander Press
      This small eclectic British publisher has begun publishing a series of classic British mystery novels, primarily from the Golden Age. The series is grouped into a section of their catalogue named "London Bound," as the books are set in London.
    • Ostara Publishing
      "Ostara Publishing re-issues titles that have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics. We specialise in Crime and Thriller fiction titles and our range goes from the1920s through to the 21st century. We publish thematically and currently have six series available. All our titles are published in a 'trade paperback' format and printed to order."
    • Poisoned Pen Press
      Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Poisoned Pen Press publishes a fairly wide variety of mysteries. Some are reprints; many are new, by newer authors. Their website has a great deal of information about their books and authors.

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    « Deadly in the Northeast | Main | "Death on the Cherwell" »

    June 21, 2014

    Follow That Carr!

    Or follow that Dickson, anyway. I noted in my review of And So to Murder this week that it wasn't really my favorite Sir Henry Merrivale novel written by John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson. A quick check online shows me that two of my favorite H.M. novels are still available, both in print and electronic editions.

    The Judas Window is nothing short of brilliant - what seems to be a totally impossible crime (with an obvious candidate for the gallows) is de-mystified by H.M. - who keeps reminding readers throughout the book that the crime was simple and relied on a Judas window. And what is a Judas window, you may ask? Read the book...

    Also still available is The Plague Court Murders, which was the very first Merrivale novel. The impossible crime is quite good, but it is the eerie atmosphere which really carries the book; it wouldn't have taken much to turn this into a great ghost or horror story along the lines of M.R. James, but it's a mystery instead - and I certainly didn't follow the cleverly hidden clues while I was reading it!

    I've written about both before - The Judas Window is here, and The Plague Court Murders is here. Take your pick - you can't go wrong with either choice.

    Posted at 01:22 PM in Golden Age, Locked Rooms/Impossible Crimes |

    Tags: Carter Dickson, classic mysteries, HM, impossible crimes, John Dickson Carr, Locked room mysteries, mysteries, mystery

    Comments

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    Margot Kinberg

    Les - I have to agree with you about The Judas Window as far as the H.M. series goes. At the same time I plead guilty to a slight preference for the Gideon Fell stories (I think The Hollow Man/The Three Coffins is the best of those). But I agree that you really can't go wrong with those two H.M. novels.

    Posted by: Margot Kinberg | June 21, 2014 at 02:30 PM

    Les Blatt

    Margot, I agree with you - and I think "The Three Coffins" is probably Carr's best, overall. But I also enjoy many of the H.M. books, and I think "The Judas Window" and "The Plague Court Murders" are among the best of those.

    Posted by: Les Blatt | June 21, 2014 at 03:35 PM

    The comments to this entry are closed.

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      That means that if you order anything from Amazon through a link from my site I get a small commission. As a result, I'd consider it a favor if you would consider making your purchases through my links. As always, though, if you have a local mystery book store, I encourage you to use them as your first choice. For anything else...thank you.

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